Sam Jordison: a man of taste

If you've got your finger on the pulse of the Offbeat Generation you've probably already read this, but Sam Jordison (author of Crap Towns, Crap Towns II, The Joy Of Sects and Bad Dates. ) at the Guardian recently wrote two very good articles about the writers we love and support, here and here.

Here are a two extracts:

"Closely associated with 3:AM is the Offbeat Generation, a loose confederation of writers, who all - at the very least - show considerable promise. Worth investigation are: HP Tinker, Ben Myers, Paul Ewen, Heidi James, Matthew Coleman, and, especially, Tony O' Neill. The latter seems to be the figurehead for this burgeoning scene. He's a man who has taken the phrase rock'n'roll poet to its furthest edges, as a former member of the infamous Brian Jonestown Massacre sacked for behaviour too wild even for that notorious band. Having finally cleaned up his act he's written a memoir due out in April and (already touted as the next underground classic) and some quite brilliant, not to mention shocking, short stories."


"[...]there's no denying the abundant energy, passion and pleasingly warped imagination of writers such as Matthew Coleman, Ben Myers, HP Tinker, Tony O'Neill and Andrew Gallix - not to mention Heidi James herself. There's every hope that soon one of them might produce something rather special - and that, if they continue to expand their influence as rapidly as they have been doing in recent months, mainstream publishers will have to sit up and take serious notice."

Travis Jeppesen's intriguing Myspace photo is also mentioned (replaced now by epileptic colors).

Kudos to Sam and the Guardian for being on the ball.